There are some people who always sound like they’re competing for the title of “world’s noisiest drummer.” Not Oliver Jackson. He’s more inclined to draw you in with inventive, subtle playing than to force you back with bombast. Give Jackson a break where you’d expect most drummers to cut loose, and he’s apt to surprise you—maybe patting the drumheads low and musically with his hands rather than his drumsticks, or doing a whimsical tap dance on the rims and cymbals with his sticks. He understands dynamics, the use of drama, and effects. He can get more different sounds out of a standard drumset than most young drummers would probably think possible. But he always has power in reserve. And when he’s got you lulled—bam!—he’ll break through with the energy he’s kept under careful control. “A lot of drummers,” Jackson says— making it clear from his tone of voice that he […]

August 1986 Issue